sans maitre wrote:definitely more than one pig at the trough, everyone wins but the average american citizen

Yes, think of how great it would be for the government to have all that money freed up to spend on programs benefiting a broad base of the population and bringing us closer to the standards of the decent societies enjoyed by many European countries--just as Steve and I have always dreamed. (Don't hit me, Steve.)

There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.
-- Johann Sebastian Bach

Allies always emerge, from a multitude of directions, when fighting for the right cause. Allies, for the sake of securing allies, whatever the cause, are likely to be in for the money. A misguided American military venture, such as in Iraq, can generate allies, in Africa and God knows where, if you've got the money to buy them out.

Isn't that the ultimate symbol of American imperialism?: Fight for me, whatever the cause.

In the eyes of those lovers of perfection, a work is never finished—a word that for them has no sense—but abandoned....(Paul Valéry)

"Imperialism"? Just where is our empire? A few islands in the Carabbean and the Pacific don't add up to much. The word is loosely used for political purposes to mean nothing more than influence of which one disapproves, but that's not the real thing, it's just talk.

As for our military allies, we originally chose them and they chose us to win one or another hot war or the Cold War, and now that most of those wars are over, it's appropriate to reduce our commitments and costs. And we have. In Europe. The five combat divisions stationed in Germany when I was there have been sharply reduced; by the end of 2013, all that's left will be two brigade combat teams in support of NATO. When I was in Korea, two American combat divisions and support units were stationed there; now there's one division - and since the Korean War was never terminated with a peace treaty, and the North is acting warlike again and now has nuclear weapons which South Korea does not have, and is actually threatening to attack the continental United States, those troops may be needed.